And Milton Wolf:

The poll used a sample size of 704 registered Wisconsin voters with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.

Daily Kos released the results of a poll taken around the same time that shows Walker with 50 percent of the vote and Barrett at 45; Kleefisch received 46 percent to Mitchell’s 43 percent.

One of the key factors in the election appears to be turnout; according to the same poll, Republicans have the edge:

Republicans are more likely to say they are “absolutely certain” to vote on June 5, at 91 percent, than are Democrats and independents, both at 83 percent. In other areas of participation, Republicans also have an advantage. Sixty-two percent of Republicans say that they have tried to persuade someone to vote for or against a candidate, compared to 54 percent among Democrats and 48 percent among independents. Democrats, however, are more likely to have been contacted by a campaign, 83 percent, to 78 percent for Republicans and 76 percent among independents. These rates are for all registered voters in the sample, not just likely voters.

It won’t hurt that today Walker’s office released new jobs numbers showing that during 2011 Wisconsin employers added 23,321 jobs (57,221 more than original estimates):

Walker argued that the figures he released on Wednesday more accurately reflect what is happening in the state and are more in line with other positive economic indicators, such as a declining unemployment rate and rise in tax collections.

“The bottom line is Wisconsin added jobs in 2011,” said Reggie Newson, secretary of the state Department of Workforce Development.

Perhaps the DNC found out about the jobs numbers in advance, which might explain the lack of funds sent to Wisconsin?

I am the wife of a career soldier and the mother of four. I am registered with the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and, like my ancestors, have always been proud of my Cherokee heritage. I have been studying Cherokee history and genealogy for a long time and I am interested in anything Cherokee, whether it involves the historical Cherokee Nation or the Cherokee people of today. I have been fortunate to have been mentored in Cherokee history and genealogical methods by David Cornsilk and the late Jerri Chasteen and I hope to pass on what I have learned to others. I adhere to the Standards for Sound Genealogical Practices and believe one should only claim what they can prove through solid historical documentation.

I spoke with Ms. Barnes today.  She is 7/32 Cherokee, has 10 ancestors on the Dawes Roll and many other relatives who are Cherokee including her grandfather (7/8 Cherokee) and mother (7/16 Cherokee).  Ms. Barnes is active in Cherokee affairs.

Here is an image of Ms. Barnes’ great-great-great grandmother, Polly Vann Tadpole, after whom the blog is named and who was full-blooded Cherokee:

Ms. Barnes also has put together a video of her Cherokee ancestors (text here):

My Great Great Great Grandma Polly’s family and descendants include many college graduates, decorated soldiers, accomplished athletes, and nationally known poets, writers, and artists yet we are all just simple people who are a living legacy to a woman who traveled the Cherokee Trail of Tears over 170 years ago. I hope she would be proud of us all. Every photo either contains a family member or descendant of hers.

Because of a family emergency, Ms. Barnes has not been able to weigh in on the Elizabeth Warren saga over the past two weeks.

But now Ms. Barnes is weighing in with A Letter to Elizabeth Warren, here is an excerpt (emphasis mine):

I am writing this letter in the hope it will help end the current situation you have found yourself in. It seems you are being ripped apart in the media because of your claim of Cherokee ancestry and you don’t like it. According to a recent article in the Boston Globe, you believe your opponent is “creating a distraction” by “ridiculously” attacking you “with questions that have already been answered.” It seems you would like the “attacks” against your claims of Cherokee ancestry to stop so I thought I would offer some advice on how to make it stop.

Tell the truth….

While you cling to a family story and the inaccurate report that ONE document was found that supports your claim, we real Cherokees understand that those things mean nothing. You see, we Cherokees have lots and lots and lots of documentation supporting our claims of our ancestry. Our Cherokee ancestors are found on every roll of the Cherokee Nation (30+ rolls!) dating back to before the removal and in all sorts of other documentation, including but not limited to claims against the US government for lost property; the Moravian missionary records; ration lists before and after the forced removal, etc…yet your ancestors are found in NONE of those records.

But, your ancestors are found in plenty of historical records, and every time, they are found living as white people among other white people. Never are your ancestors ever found living among the Cherokees. Never, never, never, never…….yet you claim they were Cherokee….

So, Ms. Warren, you see, it is not just your opponent who has questions. We Cherokees have questions too and those questions have yet to be answered by you. You see, for us Cherokees, this is not political. This is about the truth.

You have claimed something you had no right to claim — our history and our heritage and our identity. Those things belong to us, and us alone. These are not things we choose to embrace when they benefit us and then cast aside when we no longer need them, but that is what you seem to have done by “checking a box” for several years and then no longer “checking” it more recently, when apparently you no longer needed it.

As indicated in the footnote to her letter, Ms. Barnes has formed a working group of Cherokee genalogists who have been tracking down Elizabeth Warren’s claim to Cherokee ancestry, particularly the Crawford line:

Several people who are experienced researchers in Cherokee genealogy have been working together exploring Elizabeth Warren’s ancestry. They have uncovered many documents that, combined, paint a very clear picture that Warren descends from white people who had no connection whatsoever to the Cherokee Nation. These documents will be posted soon.

With regard to Elizabeth Warren’s continued claims that she is proud of her Native American heritage, Ms. Barnes stated:  “She needs to stop.”

Update:  Twila Barnes was interviewed on the Howie Carr Show this afternoon.  Unfortunately, the embeds are auto-run, and since that annoys a lot of readers, you’ll have to go over to his website.  Carr’s intro, which is right on the money, is here, and the interview is here.

“It’s like she’s stepping on the backs of Cherokee people to get what it is that she wants” (2:50)

“Cherokees are talking about her claims and they see the high cheekbone comment and all the other comments as insulting, because they’re stereotypical.”  (3:20)

Re Pow Wow Cookbook: “Pow Wows aren’t even traditionally Cherokee” (3:55)

“I think she’s deceiving herself, she doesn’t have Native American ancestry, she doesn’t have the heritage.” (6:50)

“She did grasp that story and embrace it to try to further her career.”  (7:35)

“I think she owes the Cherokee Nation an apology, I think she owes all American Indians an apology, and I think she owes the American public an apology” (8:35)

Styles of baby names, it seems, are nearly as different in various parts of the country as voting habits. “There is an enormous red state and blue state divide on names,” says Laura Wattenberg, founder of BabyNameWizard.com and author of The Baby Name Wizard, which claims to be “the expert guide to baby name style.”

But this doesn’t play out the way you might expect. More progressive communities, Wattenberg says, tend to favor more old-fashioned names. Parents in more conservative areas come up with names that are more creative or androgynous.

While it is unclear exactly how or if data was collected — it appears to be the opinion of Wattenberg — she does provide one theory to explain the assumption:

The reason for more outlandish-sounding names cropping up in conservative quarters is simple, Wattenberg says. Women in red states tend to have their first children earlier than women in blue states. A 23-year-old mom is more likely to come up with something out of the ordinary than one who is 33.

Neither NPR nor Wattenberg define what “trendy” names are, or if it is possible for traditional names to themselves be trendy.

Here’s my new contribution:

Via BuzzFeed Politics:

In the latest attempt to crack down on potentially embarrassing digital leaks from presidential fundraisers, President Barack Obama’s campaign has begun asking donors attending small fundraisers with the president to turn over their cell phones before entering.

Pool reporter David Nakamura of the Washington Post reported that at a $35,800 a head fundraiser at the home of Blackstone COO Hamilton “Tony” James in New York City Monday night, the 60 attendees were asked to place their phones in plastic bags by the door.

An Obama aide called the move it “standard operating procedure,” but veterans of a range of other campaigns said they’d never heard of the practice, which is common in secure White House spaces where there are concerns of espionage, but unknown in contexts in which only political secrets are discussed. The new prevalence of sophisticated audio and recording capacities in mobile devices owned by virtually anyone wealthy enough to write a check to a political campaign, however, has put a new pressure on campaigns concerned with staying on a public message.

The fundraising sessions are one of the last vestige of privacy for the president outside of the White House, and a rare opportunity for top donors to hear relatively unscripted remarks by the most powerful man in the world, and to ask him questions. Obama’s prepared remarks at the events are open press and covered by a small group of reporters, but the “press pool” is escorted out of the room before the Q&A period.

At Romney fundraisers, attendees are greeted to signs of “Please, no audio or video recording,” and like Obama events, larger fundraisers are open to reporters; a Romney spokesperson, however, told BuzzFeed that their campaign allows donors to keep their phones during fundraisers.

Former aides to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, Rick Perry, and Jon Huntsman all expressed surprise at the practice, and they’ve never seen an instance where a campaign asked donors to surrender their cell phones.

I wonder why Obama is so paranoid about cell phones at campaign fundraisers.

It’s not like he would say something in private that he would not say in public which might contradict the image he seeks to project:

Seen in Democrat-friendly, labor union centric, Obama-G-20, Pittsburgh. Think the driver has any doubts?

Compared to last fall’s protests, the level of anger and violence has escalated both in the demeanor and chants of the protesters. More overtly visible Communist and anarchist flags and symbols were in evidence in the clothing, flags, and chants of the Occupy crowds.

Video cannot capture the feeling of walking among the Occupy of spring 2012; the group Tuesday night seethed with anger and a desire to engage with the police, taunting and yelling at them as they lined the streets. Many were dressed in all black with masks or bandannas covering their faces.

Chicago Riot Police with helmets and clubs were called in as they attempted to keep the march on the streets, and they lined the roofs of the buildings along Halsted Street. One of the Occupiers yelled “Sieg Heil” as the marchers made their way north.

“It’s quite possible the police are worried about property damage,” said a man livestreaming the march as police corralled the protesters off the sidewalks.

At 8:00 pm CST, one of the Occupiers struck an elderly man; the man walked away rather than press charges:

By 8:30pm, storm clouds had gathered and tensions were on the rise and a few minutes later they stormed the CTA train station screaming, “Whose Trains! Our Trains!”

Occupy Chicago was already trying to distance itself from the violence of the march Tuesday night, saying that it wasn’t affiliated with their group. However, the official twitter stream promoted the location of the march and “@occupychicago” along with the hashtag #FTP:

The protest was neither nonviolent nor about NATO; this was about a show of force against the local authorities and setting the tone for the rest of the week.

A medical report compiled by the family physician of accused Trayvon Martin murderer George Zimmerman and obtained exclusively by ABC News found that Zimmerman was diagnosed with a “closed fracture” of his nose, a pair of black eyes, two lacerations to the back of his head and a minor back injury the day after he fatally shot Martin during an alleged altercation.

This doesn’t prove that George Zimmerman acted lawfully, but it breaks the narrative that Zimmerman was not injured, pushed by the Martin family attorneys, left-wing blogs, LGF, and many others with an agenda.

That makes two narratives broken today.

Update:  Via Tom Maguire, and bruised knuckles:

WFTV9:

Autopsy results show Trayvon Martin had injuries to his knuckles

SANFORD, Fla. —

WFTV has confirmed that autopsy results show 17-year-old Trayvon Martin had injuries to his knuckles when he died.

The information could support George Zimmerman’s claim that Martin beat him up before Zimmerman shot and killed him.

Dear MoveOn member,

BREAKING NEWS FROM WISCONSIN: The Democratic National Committee isn’t investing in the massive get out the vote effort in Wisconsin to recall Scott Walker.

Wisconsin is ground zero for Democrats this summer—and there are only three weeks before Election Day—which is why this breaking news just doesn’t make sense.

Scott Walker and his right-wing allies have spent millions, and they’ll spend millions more in the next few weeks. But Walker’s poll numbers won’t budge and if the Wisconsin Democrats can run the massive field program they have planned, we can win this.

But the DNC’s lack of support has left a huge hole in the get out the vote budget. So MoveOn members need to step up. Can you help recall Walker?

Chip in $5 to the Wisconsin Democrats on ActBlue to beat Scott Walker.

Wisconsin citizens, with the support of activists from all around the country, have accomplished more than anyone thought possible. They’ve inspired all of us, and put fear into the hearts of other governors who wanted to attack the 99%. But if Walker survives the recall, we’ll have wasted a year of effort.

With only a few weeks left, we can’t wait for the Democratic National Committee to chip in. We have to do it ourselves.

Can you chip in $5 today via ActBlue to make sure that Scott Walker is finally recalled from office?

Thanks for all you do.

–Daniel, Levana, and the rest of the team

Top Wisconsin Democrats are furious with the national party — and the Democratic National Committee in particular — for refusing their request for a major investment in the battle to recall Scott Walker, I’m told.

The failure to put up the money Wisconsin Dems need to execute their recall plan comes at a time when the national Republican Party is sinking big money into defending Walker, raising fears that the DNC’s reluctance could help tip the race his way.

She is not.

There is a primary contest on September 6.  And the only other announced candidate just filed her petitions:

U.S. Senate candidate Marisa DeFranco will drop off more than 10,000 signatures to the Secretary of State’s office at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, validating her primary run against Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic battle to unseat Republican Sen. Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race.

DeFranco, a federal immigration lawyer in Middleton, has worked against the odds to remain one of the two Democratic contenders in a Senate race once made up of several notable politicians all aspiring to take on Brown in November.

DeFranco has raised almost no money, while Warren has raised tens of millions, including heaps of cash from Wall Street.

As indicated in the video below, DeFranco would have to get 15% of the vote at the nominating convention on June 2 in order to make it to the ballot in September.

Three weeks ago, that prospect would have seemed dim.  But are the delegates willing to head into the fall with only one candidate, someone on whom the next shoe could drop?

(Part 2 of interview here)

Update: I received an e-mail from Kevin Franck, Communications Director of the Massachusetts Democratic Party:

I’m kinda surprised by this line in your post that just went up:

As indicated in the video below, DeFranco would have to get 15% of the vote at the nominating convention on June 2 in order to make it to the ballot in September.

Three weeks ago, that prospect would have seemed dim.

Why would you think that here prospects of passing the 15% threshold were dim?

I think that’s a fair point. I just assumed, because Warren so dominates all the discussion and fundraising, that the party would unite around her at the convention. If that was not the case prior to three weeks ago, then it certainly should not be the case on June 2 – and there will be a primary election in September.

It’s one shiny object after another.

Does it ever stop with this guy?

Hopefully recent polling becomes a trend, and the country is ready to walk out of the Theater of Shiny Objects in the middle of the show.

Yesterday, eight protesters who were part of around twenty people who protested the Obama campaign headquarters downtown volunteered to be arrested:

About 20 protesters made it up the escalators from the lobby to the second floor, where their attempt to reach Obama’s campaign offices stalled when security guards shut down banks of elevators. The rest remained in the lobby, singing and handing fliers to passing office workers as a dozen uniformed police stood behind them. Outside, a phalanx of bicycle officers lined the sidewalk.

One of the main protest goals is to use the media to illustrate a violent crackdown on their actions. And the media is complicit, reporting on their “peaceful” protests. Marching down the streets chanting “F— the police” is not peaceful.

The “Chicago Spring” website shows a clenched fist with the Chicago “L” subway lines streaming out of it.

Numerous trainings from last fall to this week are aiding the protesters in how to interact with and manipulate their interactions with the police. For example, the following training occurred this past Sunday:

How To Disarm A Police Officer: Strategy and Tactics For Dealing With Law Enforcement On The Front Line

Domestic terrorist turned University of Illinois professor Bill Ayers taught “nonviolent direct action” to Chicago Occupy last fall in the following video, where he laughed at the notion of Occupiers acting lawfully. When one questioner asks if they will need to resort to violence in order to achieve a real revolution (at 4:32 mark), Ayers says:

What I would say is that violence is built in–do i think you should resort to violence? Absolutely not. I think you should use your brilliance, your humor, your wisdom, your body to dramatize the violence that actually exists….the revolution that I have in mind is one where we–a real revolution involves masses of people transforming itself….but I do think there will be some times where we get into a trick bag where we’re supposed to be somehow pristine and precious and somebody like Barack Obama…is saying ‘I want you all to be nonviolent.” Well I want YOU to be nonviolent.

In the meantime, the storefronts on Michigan Avenue, the main boulevard in Chicago, and surrounding areas are preparing for the “nonviolence” by covering every inch of exposed windows with plexi-glass:

Protest organizer Andy Thayer also painted the potential of violence as coming from the police in an interview with one of the leaders of Occupy Chicago, Micah Philbrook, who said:

The sheer fact of it is, as far as Occupy Chicago stands , we’re in solidarity with everyone who’s comign out to protest NATO. From the Democrats to the Unions to the radicals that show up, we all have grievances…violence, like Andy said, is routinely done by the state and the police….we are a peaceful, nonviolent movement. All of the coordination we’ve done is stressing nonviolent political action, centered firmly in nonviolence.

An employee of BMO-Harris reports that the company sent out an emailing stressing that employees not show up to work in suits, but rather dress down to avoid being targeted.

…By the nonviolence?

A record unearthed Monday shows that US Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has a great-great-great grandmother listed in an 1894 document as a Cherokee, said a genealogist at the New England Historic and Genealogy Society.

The shred of evidence could validate her assertion that she has Native American ancestry, making her 1/32 American Indian, but may not put an end to the questions swirling around the subject….

Chris Child, a genealogist at the New England Historic and Genealogy Society, said he began digging into Warren’s family history on Thursday, when media interest emerged.

At first, he found no link between Warren’s family and Native Americans in her native Oklahoma.

But Monday afternoon, he said, he discovered a few links. Warren’s great-great-great grandmother, O.C. Sarah Smith, is listed on her son’s 1894 application for a marriage license as a Cherokee.

Child also found that Warren’s great-grandfather, John Houston Crawford, had lived in Native American territory, but identified himself as white in a 1900 census.

Child cautioned that the search for ancestry often takes a long time and that more information could still emerge as he continues to research the issue.

But he said Warren’s family is not included in the official Dawes Commission rolls, a census of major tribes completed in the early 20th century that Cherokees use to determine tribal citizenship.

As you know, that Boston Globe story created a legend which lives on in the media despite having been thoroughly and repeatedly debunked at every level, and one from which even NEHGS has walked away.

The Globe finally gets around to correcting the story, but buries it in the “For the Record” correction section today:

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in the May 1 Metro section and the accompanying headline incorrectly described the 1894 document that was purported to list Elizabeth Warren’s great-great-great grandmother as a Cherokee. The document, alluded to in a family newsletter found by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, was an application for a marriage license,  not the license itself. Neither the society nor the Globe has seen the primary document, whose existence has not been proven.

(Note:  The correction references an article on May 1 which repeated the story; the correction now is appended at the end of the original online version.)

That’s it?  After all the trouble The Globe caused, necessitating countless hours by lowly bloggers to correct the falsehood.

The Globe and the false report of a 1/32 Cherokee connection may have saved Warren’s campaign, as it came at a time when her campaign was in panic and without any evidence to substantiate her claim to Native American ancestry, which she used when a junior faculty member in a law school association directory to obtain “minority law teacher” status.

The false report bought Warren time during which various supportive pundits could opine about what it means to be Cherokee and how dare white people impose their own standards.

This mea culpa should be front page at The Globe.

Related Posts:

• Is prestigious genealogical society throwing media under the bus on Warren 1/32 Cherokee claim?
• Genealogist for Elizabeth Warren 1/32 Cherokee claim goes silent, source document shown false
• Stolen Cherokee Valor
• Cruel irony in Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee saga

Update:  Victor Davis Hanson, Diversitygate:

I guess some of us are on a different planet, because both Warren and Harvard University seem to have been unethical at best and unlawful at worst — if she or anyone from the Law School (no less!) signed forms or affidavits attesting to Warren’s Native American status in accordance with federal affirmative action/diversity guidelines.

And Michael Patrick Leahy, who has led the way on the genealogical research to debunk the claims, has a new post up at Breitbart.com, Questions Remain After Boston Globe Corrects Warren Story:

Today’s “correction” by the Boston Globe leaves several questions about their initial reporting of New England Historic Genealogical Society genealogist Chris Child’s statements about Elizabeth Warren’s ancestry unanswered. It states that the May 1 story and the accompanying headline “incorrectly described the 1894 document that was purported to list Elizabeth Warren’s great-great-great grandmother as a Cherokee.” However, as New England Historic Genealogical Society spokesman Tom Champoux has subsequently admitted on May 9, the original source document was not an 1894 document, as the Globe’s correction today suggests. Instead, it was a 2006 family newsletter.

Andrew Bolt of the Herald Sun in Australia  linked to one of my Elizabeth Warren posts in his post titled, Cherokee no more.  The following sentences at the end of his post jumped out at me:

I would like to discuss certain Australian analogies, but lawyers advise me the risks are now unacceptably high.

Such are our disgraceful laws against free speech.

What was that all about?

Here’s what:

Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt says a Federal Court judgment against him makes it a terrible day for free speech in Australia.

Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg has found Bolt breached the Racial Discrimination Act in two articles which implied some fair-skinned Aborignals were not really Aboriginal but claimed to be for the benefits.

Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg said it wasn’t covered by free speech or fair comment provisions because the articles had factual errors, distortions of the truth and inflammatory language.

Outside court, Bolt said the judgment placed too many restrictions on the discussion of multi-cultural issues.

The group of fair-skinned Aboriginal people who’ve won the Federal Court action against Bolt say they don’t expect the Herald Sun columnist to apologise for breaching the laws.

Here are the provisions of the law in question:

“(1)  It is unlawful for a person to do an act, otherwise than in private, if:

(a)  the act is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people; and

(b)  the act is done because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the other person or of some or all of the people in the group.”

One of Bolt’s colleagues noted the irony of the social media mob celebrating:

The cesspool of hate that threatens to engulf most social media was at its vociferous worst when commenting on the Federal Court ruling that my colleague, Andrew Bolt, had violated Australia’s racial discrimination laws.

Violent, obscene language that cannot be printed in a family newspaper was employed against Bolt by people who hide behind anonymous avatars.

Serial Twitter offender and former Age columnist Catherine Deveny wrote: “The boys in the big house are going to love #Bolt. He has such a pretty mouth.”

The Twitterati voiced delight as well: “Great victory against Andrew Bolt, hope one day he will be removed from radio and TV”.

One tweet said: “now for Alan Jones”.

The irony, of course, is that the chortlers are so stupid that they don’t realise they are next.

The Federal Court has shown us that the Racial Discrimination Act can be used to silence unfashionable opinion.

We are heading there, folks.  One can’t have a discussion about gay marriage without supporters of one man / one woman — the standard which has been in place for millenia, being accused of hate speech.  People who question climate change dogma are accused of hate speech.  Everything with which the left-wing disagrees now is hate speech.

But we’re not Australia yet.

In Australia, Elizabeth Warren would still be 1/32 Cherokee.  In the land of the free, she’s just someone who claimed to be Native American for benefits.

Update: Victor Davis Hanson, Diversitygate:

I guess some of us are on a different planet, because both Warren and Harvard University seem to have been unethical at best and unlawful at worst — if she or anyone from the Law School (no less!) signed forms or affidavits attesting to Warren’s Native American status in accordance with federal affirmative action/diversity guidelines.